Willie Mullins says his leading Champion Hurdle hope Melon is a much stronger horse compared to this time last year.
Speaking ahead this weekends Dublin Racing Festival in Leopardstown where Melon is scheduled to line-up in the Irish Champion Hurdle, Willie says is expecting improvement from his Christmas run.
He says “I think so. Like he fell in Punchestown, I was a little bit disappointed with him at Christmas, but because we hadn’t got runs into our horses, a few of mine are running below par”.
“It looked like they needed a run, this fellow looks like he needed it, his work at home suggests to me that we just get down and do more work with him, he’s a lot stronger horse this year than he was last year and he is taking more work so we are giving it to him and we see improvement at home”.
Willie added “If he shows that improvement at the racetrack he has a major chance I think”.